A Greek Island Lesson

Lifestyle

Sep 10

Usually at this time of year I am saying a sad goodbye to the steamy, Greek summer and welcoming the gentler climate of autumn. September is a truly magical time on any Greek island. My Greek Island Home feels a long way from Sydney right now and as I think about my whitewashed village house with its turquoise shutters and the pink flowering oleander border, peeping up from under my windows I am wondering what else I miss.

I definitely miss the long Greek summer days, the heat, swimming in the crystal-clear Aegean Sea, walking in the beautiful rugged landscape. I miss our pretty village house with a garden filled with flowers and trees that provide us with fruit and nuts and home grown vegetables. I miss all the cats and dogs, waifs and strays we rescue, rehabilitate and home and our village friends.

But most of all I miss the tight knit community I have been privileged to be a part of for the last 16 years. I become increasingly aware as time goes on the importance of community.

When I was a child growing up in the suburbs of Sydney, community was a way of life. We were linked with friends and neighbours on a daily basis, from collective school runs to playing in the local parks or in each other’s gardens.

We were also linked through sport, the church and other group activities. We helped each other, had fun together, laughed together, cried together, celebrated together. We shared daily life experiences.

In the school holidays my mum would scoop up a load of our local friends and drive our Holden station wagon to one of our harbour jetties. There she would provide us with fishing lines, bait and a picnic. We spend hours together mucking around and trying to catch a fish or two big enough to take home for dinner. Luckily for the fish we were never particularly successful.

There were netball games too, where my mother’s involvement was crucial. She not only trained the team but encouraged the parents to come along and barrack from the side-lines. Mum organised lamington drives to raise money for my brother’s school brass band. She organised sewing classes, fashion shows and trained my brother's soccer team. All this she did in the spirit community, a community she was happy to be part of.

I grew up, left home and went to London, a big city, where I found you had to dig much deeper to find community.

Then in 2005 I went on a journey to Greece where I found myself buying a house in a small village. One of the most wonderful things about this Greek village was being accepted into a community. My partner and I were incredibly fortunate because we were immediately welcomed with open arms by our Greek neighbours. We were treated with kindness, openness and generosity.

Often, we would wake up and find bags of fresh, seasonal produce hanging on our front gate, with no clue who had left them. We were invited to weddings, baptism, name days and even funerals.

Even though we were very much outsiders we were always included and the village people’s generosity, humour and kindness never ceases to amaze us.

The spirit of community is everywhere in the village from the Women's Co-op where the village women gather to make delicious cakes, biscuits and sweets, to the Plateno, the main village square where the men sit together drinking coffee, playing backgammon and cards and discuss the politics of the day whether they be local or more general.

In the summer locals and visitors alike come together to share meals cooked from fresh seasonal local products in the tavernas, they listen to music and sometimes even dance. These occasions are loud, enthusiastic and fun.

I love the saying ‘It takes a whole village to raise a child’ and it is one that I see every day in the Greek community. It’s the spirit of community and a wonderful example of how everyone has an important role to play in village life.

Community is essential and as we go through this difficult time we need to remember there are a lot of people who are not only isolated but extremely lonely. It’s important to think of others, do something small, even just a phone call can make all the difference. As humans we need to be included, feel loved, be appreciated and nurture friendships.

I want to thank our friends in the village of Skalochori for opening my eyes to the importance of community and for the generosity and warmth they show toward me every day.

You can read all about my beautiful community experiences in my book My Greek Island Home